Friday, April 8, 2011

So I've been busy. Busy with work, busy with Dawn of War II: Retribution, busy with Minecraft, and busy not painting! GASP! I'm ever so sorry for the complete lack of updates, I'm trying to get back to my painting table, and thus back on the blogging.

So I've managed to finally finish up my first experiment with the weathering powders. I like the effect, but there were some lessons on the way. Mainly it was about me remembering (or not remembering) what I had seen in other tutorials. A key one was the medium that you use with your powders can make a huge difference and you want to select that carefully. I started by using rubbing alcohol, but without a protective base coat, that started to lift the paint underneath. So in future I'll need some glossy finish to protect the finished paint job, do the powders, then respray with a matte finish. I suppose that I could use a matte spray to protect it, but from what I read, it seems that the glossy stuff does the protecting job a bit better.

I've seen a tutorial where they used a mixture of alcohol and white glue to form a sticky medium to basically clump the powders to make stuck on mud and whatnot. I like it, but I think it's a little too much for my models. If I was doing a diorama, I might use that technique to achieve a specific effect.

Grey Knights

I grabbed the codex from my local GW. I've been slowly reading it, and so far I'm cool with it. The Grey Knights' back story has always been a little vague, and I think that has served them well enough, to a point. I think many people underestimate their over powered-ness when it comes to the fiction. These are the chosen of the chosen, and they have a very specific calling in the universe of 40K. The fiction in 40K is more about opening my mind, rather than closing potential creative avenues because something doesn't match expectations or previous stories. In that vein, I'm more likely to not have an issue with new interpretations of established fiction. Draigo's story, for example, might seem over the top, but I think it was intended exactly so to be. We're talking about one of the most powerful beings within the Grey Knights, which itself isn't filled with your "average" 7 foot tall, bio-engineered space marine. He kinda has to be crazy.

But let me say something VERY important here, and it has NOTHING to do with the rules, or fiction:

"Dear GW, please continue to make kits like the GK power armor and Terminator kits!"

Seriously! These are what I've been harping on about since I got into this hobby. I've never understood the seemingly bizarre kits that were missing options. A tactical squad box should have all the weapon options. Simple as that. What's more, I should be able to make Devastators out of a tactical box, or perhaps (and this is stretching, I know) assault squads! I was pleased, when I stopped by my GW store, to see that the new Tomb Kings kits are following this model of "Here's a ton of options in one box. Have fun!"

This means more bits, and likely lower costs for GW. I don't suppose that latter fact will translate into lower prices for us, but... one can dream.

What's next?

I have a little toy Hummer here, and I'm going to practice some vehicle camo stuff. I'll start working on that this weekend. Should be interesting. In the meantime, here are some more pics of my bulldozer, enjoy:

The headlights came out nice. I like the dusty effect I got on the dozer blade.

The seat got a little freehand wear marks. Not too much.

The tracks came out okay. Don't know if I'll use that mud/rust color for my IG vehicles.